RETURNING TO CITI FIELD
THIS WINTER
theworldsfare.nyc
Worpship at Corona’s Argentine Temple of Meat
BY JOE DISTEFANO
As the Culinary King of Queens, I’m so
very fortunate to live in the most diverse
and delicious destination in all of New
York City. Really I’m not royalty though,
I’m an ambassador, and a hungry one
at that. Today we visit Argentina via
Corona at El Gauchito, one of my favorite
steakhouses in Queens. You might think I chose this Argentine
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, S BTR EPTEMBER 6-12, 2019 21
emporium, whose name means “the
little cowboy” for my first column
because I’m covering the myriad
international cuisines of Queens in alphabetical
order and you might be right, but really it has
more to do with summertime. After all summer’s
the perfect time for grilled beef and cold beer,
but sometimes it’s just too hot in New York City
to do it yourself, and that’s when I like to head
to this temple to Argentine gastronomy—i.e.
sumptuous grilled meats served with plenty of
garlicky chimichurri.
Antipasto El Gauchito—a platter laden with
creamy beef tongue, a terrine of pig feet, pickled
eggplant, and matambre—is a great way to begin
a feast here. The name of that last specialty, matambre—
a rolled veal breast stuffed with spinach,
olives, and cheese—translates to “hunger killer.”
Should you be dining solo, or have a hunger that
doesn’t require slaying opt for the beef empanadas;
there is also the distinct possibility you
might be in the wrong place if your appetite is
not up to the task.
El Gauchito started out as a butcher shop in
1978, which Mario Civelli named for the mascot
of his home country’s football team in that
year’s World Cup. The butcher counter—filled
with special Argentine cuts like vacio or flap
steak and homemade blood sausage—is still
there as is the mascot El Gauchito. These days
the restaurant, which started as little more than
a butcher shop with a grill in the front window,
has expanded to take up two storefronts with
two dining rooms, each a museum of Argentine
culture lined with pictures of cowboys, accordions,
and tiles created by Argentine artist
Anibal Cicada that depict celebrities like famed
musicians Frank Valiente and Carlos Gardel,
the country’s most famous tango singer.
The main event at El Gauchito is of course
beef. The steaks here—including the bife
de chorizo (shell steak) and entraña (skirt
steak)—are excellent and take well to the
garlicky, herbaceous chimichurri sauce. A
better option though is the mixed grill, which
includes entrana, asado de tira (short ribs),
vacio (flap steak), mollejas (sweetbreads), and
morcilla (blood sausage). The latter—made
from beef blood, and secret spices—is so good
that Mario’s son, Marcello has begun wholesaling
it to other Argentine restaurants throughout
New York City.
Offal lovers can also opt for riñones, or
beef kidneys, a specialty which are particularly
prized by El Guachito’s Ecuadorean customers
Marcello says, noting that the restaurant’s
customer base is almost as diverse as Queens
itself. Colombians, Peruvians, Paraguayans,
Brazilians and Korean all come to worship at
Corona’s temple of meat. “Koreans like the
short ribs because they are used to thin cut
kalbi style short ribs,” Marcello says.
Those short ribs used to be Marcello’s favorite
too, but he says these days he’s not much of a
steak eater. “I love seafood and fish, Astoria
Seafood is my favorite,” he says with a laugh.
In the not unlikely event that you need
to make room for dessert—flan and dainty
shortbread alfajores filled with dulce de
leche—avail your self of some siphon, as
sparkling water is called in Argentina and a
shot of Fernet Branca.
El Gauchito
94-60 Corona Ave.
Elmhurst, New York 11373
(718) 271-1917
elgauchitonyc.com
/elgauchitonyc.com
